Written by: Roshni Singh, Career Stories team
Becoming Herself in Research Development: Katie Pelland
Katie Pelland, Senior Research Program Officer for the University of Virginia (UVA) Brain Institute, did not set out for a career in research development. Instead, leveraging her bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Pomona College and a PhD from UVA Engineering, her path into RD was shaped more by curiosity and conversations than a clear plan.
The May Career stories featured Katie Pelland, whose current role at the UVA Brain Institute supports research development and team science activities for neuroscience researchers around the university.
While finishing her graduate work, Katie began conducting informational interviews with individuals in academic, non-faculty roles around the university. She connected with the then Director of Proposal Development, Becca Latimer, who was excited that Katie was excited about RD work and proposed an internship on the central RD team. That opportunity, which began with compiling NIH T32 data tables (!), transitioned into a full-time role jointly housed in the central RD and graduate & postdoctoral affairs offices.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Katie relocated to Lincoln, Nebraska, and joined the University of Nebraska–Lincoln (UNL) Office of Proposal Development team, where she focused on proposal development and programming and honed her skills. However, Katie’s entire family is in Virginia and Maryland, so after a couple of years at UNL, she returned to Virginia in a new role as the primary RD person for the UVA Brain Institute. Founded in 2016, the UVA Brain Institute serves as the hub of interdisciplinary neuroscience at UVA and fosters collaborative research groups across 150–200 affiliated faculty.
When starting out, Katie knew little about RD but constantly took notes, looked things up, and asked questions of the team, which helped her figure out the work as she went along. Katie appreciates that RD work lets her use both sides of her brain, from organizing spreadsheets to getting creative with a proposal figure. What she values most, though, are the relationships with researchers, her current and former colleagues, and the RD community at UVA and through NORDP.
Katie joined NORDP within a month of landing her RD internship, and she started by subscribing to the sometimes-overwhelming listserv. Hoping to get involved, she jumped at an opportunity to volunteer on the Nominating Committee (NomCom). Since then, Katie has been an active member of NomCom and recently completed her two-year term as lead co-chair. She has also participated in the NORDP Mentoring Program as a mentor and mentee, the Conference Planning Committee, the Communications Working Group, and NORDP LEAD. At the 2024 NORDP conference, Katie was recognized with a NORDP Rising Star award.
Katie finds her NORDP volunteer work incredibly rewarding, but recognizes how easy it is to get excited about opportunities and become overcommitted. She encourages fellow members to be intentional about the commitments they take on and strive for activities that bring satisfaction, spark joy, or support professional growth.
Katie is happy to answer any questions, so please feel free to email her at catherinempelland@gmail.com.
To listen to her full interview with the Career Stories team, please click on this link (you must log in as a NORDP member to access): https://nordp.org/store/viewproduct.aspx?id=24459276; Chapter 47: Catherine (Katie) Pelland
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